A Development of Feelings
by MFP
Summary: My thoughts on how the Sole Survivor, Nate, and Piper develop feelings for each other. [My title and summary sucks]
1. Chapter 1

Piper Wright is sitting in front of her terminal, thinking what story she could tell the citizens of Diamond City. She has removed her newspaper cap, green scarf and red, leather coat after long hours of not coming up with an idea. She scowls to herself. No matter how much she tries to think of other topics besides the kidnappings and the scheming Mayor, she can't think of anything better. Disgusted with herself, Piper leans back against the chair and folds her arms.

"Would be nice if Blue chose to bring me along with him. I really need some inspiration for my next story." Piper mutters.

When Piper first published her interview with the sole survivor of Vault 111, the story was embraced by the citizens and became a hit, bringing Piper and Nat lots of caps. With the good sales, wanting to get another interview, and her curiosity on where Blue's adventure will lead, she asserted to come with him and watch his back.

Honestly, she admires Blue. His superb fighting prowess proves he's no stranger to war. Not to mention such simple abilities like picking a lock are amazing. But what she likes best is his character: honest, loyal, willing to help, someone who values family, and his old-school sense of integrity and morality. To Piper, these characteristics are so hard to find in this time, until he showed up.

As for herself, she proved she's not a hindrance when acting as his companion. She'll pull out her pistol and assists in shooting down ghouls, raiders, super mutants and feral beasts. Piper's forever grateful for the survival training her father taught her, it helped her a lot.

Her profession as a reporter helped in detecting some areas that are hard to spot, too. Of course, those times were never without danger involved. At least they come out victorious, not escaping unscathed, but alive.

"Piper! You better come here!" Nat calls out from downstairs.

"Why? You want me to walk you to school?" Piper replies.

"Very funny, Piper! Just come here!"

"... Fine! I'll be down in a minute!" She quickly puts on her scarf, red coat and hat before heading downstairs. As Piper arrives at the foot of the stairs, she brightens up.

Standing tall and well-built, with a sidearm strapped at the right thigh, a sniper rifle hanging from the back, wearing a leather belt and a leather shoulder armor on the right, a Pip-boy attached on the left arm and the classic blue jumpsuit of a vault-dweller, is the sole survivor of Vault 111, Nathaniel 'Nate' Howard.

And near his feet is the faithful german shepherd, Dogmeat, who's busy lying on his back and getting his stomach rubbed by an enthusiastic Nat.

"Blue!" Piper said, wearing a beaming smile as she comes near him. "You came back!"

Nate chuckles. "You sound like we've met after long years of not seeing each other."

"You were gone for a really long time, Blue."

"It's been only two months, Piper."

Nat comes to Piper. "Hey, sis. Going to school now. Bye!" She turns to grin at Dogmeat. "Bye, dog!" Then to Nate, mischievousness glinting in her eyes and her grin becomes smug. "Bye, mister!"

"Bye, Nat! And keep safe!" Piper waves Nat goodbye as the young girl left through the front door before facing Nate again. "Two months is a long time, Blue. You could've send a message telling me how y'are doing."

Nate's eyes show a certain gleam. He warmly looked at Piper and spoke in a soft and flirtatious tone. "You really care so much about me, Piper."

This brought a blush in Piper's cheeks. "W-well. Of course! Who wouldn't - I mean - you're important... For my stories, that is."

When it comes to going in a snoop and dealing with people, especially men, Piper is always frank and somewhat a trickster, coupled with being snarky and head-strong. This leads to offended people want to get rid off her. Threats and trying to sway her with words never worked. And she continues to be a pain in the ass just to see her mission accomplished. But when it comes to Nate, she cannot fathom why every single time she can't tell when he'll use his silver tongue to tease her, and he's the only one who could make her sound like a blundering fool.

Currently, Piper knew that Nate knew she made up that excuse, judging by the smug smile on his face after successfully getting her flustered. Now in control of herself, she continues the normal conversation. "So, Blue? What brings you here? You have a lead about the Institute?" Her eyes glint. "Or want me to accompany you?"

Nate chuckles. "Well, nothing really. This one's personal. You see, after I... Accomplished one of my objectives, I decided to help out someone in Goodneighbor. I went to Hubris comics-"

"Hubris comics? Have you seen Grognak the Barbarian issues there?" Piper excitedly asks.

Nate slowly raises a brow. "... Why the interest with Grognak?" He asks while ignoring Piper's question.

Piper mentally curses herself for revealing her interest on the comic. "It's for... Research material." ''Research material'. Nice excuse, Piper.'

Just as Piper knew, Nate didn't buy it. The raised brow rises a little higher before returning to normal. "... Right..." He drawls then smirks. "Well, to make it short, I found a costume that I want to try out. I chose your place because it's safer than Goodneighbor. You don't mind showing me a room where I can change?"

Piper looks at him with a dumbfound expression. "That's it? You came to visit me just to change into a costume? Urgh. Whatever. You can change inside the printing press."

Nate just laughs and goes into the room that Piper points out. After seeing the door closes, Piper huffs and turns her back to watch through her window, hoping to see something worthy to write while waiting for Nate to finish changing.

Piper hears the door open, signaling that Nate's done. When she turns to face him, she's utterly shocked of what Nate's wearing. Gone is the blue jumpsuit and guns, standing in front of her is a bare-chested, leather loin-cloth wearing Nate while wielding a real battle-axe.

"Oh, yeah. Forgot to mention that I want to try this Grognak the Barbarian costume." Nate simply said after he rests the axe's head on the floor, rests his hand on the tip of the axe's handle and casually poses in front of Piper.

Seeing Nate dressed up like Grognak brings Piper's imagination in overdrive. Flashbacks of her younger years come attacking, the time when she first held a Grognak the Barbarian comic. Her father rented the thing from a merchant because he knew she was curious about Pre-War reading materials and hopes she could get ideas in journalism. Turns out it was a fantasy comic. To people who pursue journalism, a comic is not a good source as references. But to young Piper, it was mind-opening, especially when she's learning about the opposite sex. The story of a barbarian saving a virgin from being eaten by a monster inspired Piper to develop her dream man: someone strong and brave like Grognak and a good man like her father. But it seems not meant to be. Her father was killed, leaving Piper to act as the bread winner for herself and her young sister, Nat. She has no time for romance and her reputation as a 'nosy reporter' makes people wary.

Right now, Piper cannot imagine the face of the blonde Grognak anymore. Not when a tall, sexy, muscular and good-looking, dark-haired man in the form of Nate Howard is standing in front of her. She could feel her cheeks flaming again, breathing restricted, then an unnamed sensation creeping inside her and slowly going between her thighs. She has to tighten her legs together to ease the uneasiness. Never, in her whole life, she has felt like this!

"So, what do you think?" Nate casually asks.

Piper sees Nate wearing the smug smile again, bringing her back to reality. To her horror, she realizes she's been ogling him when she shuts close her hanging jaw. "Huh? Wha- oh, what I think? I-I think you're... Nice on it. Too bad you're not blonde."

Nate chuckles. "You're right. I was looking for the wig but there was nothing... You know what? I feel like I can wreck enemies with this." He said and demonstrates lifting the axe and lets the shaft rests on his shoulder.

Piper could feel herself getting more uncomfortable after watching Nate's muscles flex with every movement. "Yeah. Try your brute strength against flying projectiles." She sarcastically answers, in hopes that she could hide her discomfort from revealing.

Nate removes the axe resting from his shoulder and used it as a cane again, all the while being thoughtful. "Hm. Good point. I'm probably riddled with bullets before I could swing this weapon."

"Ha! Glad I helped you see some sense. Now, it's nice seeing you dressed up as Grognak, but you better change back to your blue suit or you'll catch a cold."

Mischievousness glints in Nate's eyes. "You want me to change? I thought you liked me in this?" He drawls.

Again, Nate made Piper flustered. "Wha -? I-I never said that! I mean, I never meant it to sound like that! It's more of a-a sarcastic response! I'm concerned for you health. Dammit, Blue!" She scowls when Nate can't suppress his laughter any longer and guffaws. "Oooh! Now you made me real mad!" And she punches Nate's bare chest.

"Oof. That hurts, Piper." Nate said, still chuckling at Piper's red face. "Alright, alright. I'll change back to my jump suit for your pleasure." He continues to chuckle as he goes back inside the room.

With the door closed, Piper's able to release her breath and puts a hand on her chest as if trying to calm her racing heart. When she racks her brain about her experiences, she never recalls seeing a well-built naked chest before. Sure, she occasionally sees naked chests of raiders and super mutants, but never something... Luscious. Yeah, luscious sounds the right description. Even his arms and legs are appealingly muscular! Do Pre-War help the soldiers develop such good body structure?

Nate appears, now donning the jumpsuit and the Grognak set placed inside the Pip-boy (how items get inside the small device still amazes Nate and Piper). He smiles at Piper after hefting the sniper rifle strap onto his shoulder. "Thanks for the use of the room. So, wanna hit the road?"

Nate's invitation to travel with him brings a big smile on Piper's face. "Sure thing, Blue! Let me just fix things up here so Nat won't have any problems... And I'm almost done... Okay! I'm all set and ready to go! By the way, where we heading?"

"I received disrupted signals when I was in Lexington but I chose to ignore it first in favor of completing some missions. Now I want to decipher the signals and know what's the message."

"So Lexington it is, huh? Sure, Blue. You lead, I watch your back."

Nate laughs. "I know you will, Piper." To Dogmeat, who's been sitting near the front door, he whistles to come to him. Seeing Piper and Dogmeat, he smiles. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

 **My thoughts? I prefer the male sole survivor because his military background is clear from the beginning, while his lawyer wife's background doesn't elaborate on how she knows combat. IMHO, the decorated veteran knows how to survive in a post-apocalyptic world than the lawyer. (And seriously though, shouldn't the wife still have milk in her udders? Imagine her traveling across the wasteland and her jumpsuit suddenly gets wet because she's lactating. Ha! Hope I can read a funny story regarding this!)**

 **I'm fond of default names and character models because I prefer it. In this story though, the male sole survivor's name is Nathaniel Howard, nicknamed Nate. Howard because it's the name used during the E3 demo. And I prefer to have Dogmeat as a constant companion even if there's another one like Piper accompanying Nate.**

 **By the way, english is not my native tongue and my story structure (grammars, words, plots, etc.) is not so good. Story would also not follow plot lines. Updates are intermittent because of real life. Please bear with me. Hope you folks liked the story so far.**


	2. Chapter 2

"My turn to stand guard. Get some rest, soldier." Paladin Danse said to Nate.

"Thanks." Nate's glad his guard shift is over and gives Danse his spot near the front door of the police station and the sleeping Dogmeat. With three more hours till the sun fully rises, he takes this free time to sleep before heading out.

Passing the sleeping bodies of Haylen and Rhys, Nate goes towards the corner of the room where his companion is lying on a provided bedding. Piper's curled on her side with her facing towards him. He sits on the floor and rest his back against the wall just. Before he shuts his eyes, he looks at Piper's face. Just looking at Piper's serene face makes him whimsical and guilty.

Oh, how Nate misses his wife, Nora, who was taken from him! And blaming himself for almost losing Piper...

 **...**

Nate remembers it clearly, behind the glass window of his cryogenic pod, banging his fists against the shut door as he watched his beloved wife refusing to give up their son, Shaun, to the kidnappers. And he witnessed how the son of a bitch shot her in the head and his son taken from his wife's arms. After that, he was put to sleep.

He doesn't know of the time and date when he woke up again, all he could think of was to check on Nora. When Nora's pod opened, she was leaning against her pod, slightly facing away from him, and covered in thin ice. Only marring her beauty is the bullet hole in her forehead and the frozen trickle of blood. Even in death and covered with ice, his Nora looked so peaceful and beautiful, like she was just sleeping.

Nate reached out trembling fingers to caress that once soft and smooth cheek of his wife. Just a touch and Nate cried. Though there were no tears, his heart is in anguish. The time when he first met Nora at a local bar, the courtship through messages while he was on the front, a quick marriage during his short break from war, the eagerness to come back home and retire from war for good, and a year of finally having a complete family by the arrival of Shaun, all these shattered like broken glass. His whole life was taken away from him. But there was still Shaun and he was out there, somewhere.

Nate then vowed to Nora he will hunt down the bastard who took her away from him and bring back their son, no matter what. When he came to the surface, he discovered how the world changed and that he has been sleeping for more than two hundred years. The image of the bastard burned in his mind and finding Shaun pushed him to move even when he was overwhelmed of the post-apocalyptic world. With those two goals in mind, he has all forgotten Nora. But when he reached Diamond City, Nate started to miss his wife again. All thanks to a certain person.

Outside the doors towards the city is a woman in a press cap and red leather coat, trying to convince the person in the speaker box to let her in. When her request was refused, the woman became frustrated. As if sensing he was looking at her, she turned to face him.

Nate was taken aback when he came face to face with the woman. The woman has a striking resemblance with Nora. And when inside Diamond City, he learned that the woman's name is Piper Wright, an infamous reporter known for being nosy and snarky. He did ponder how he thought Piper looked like Nora as he was going to her office. He tried to compare Piper to Nora based on his observation when he met her.

Piper and Nora has the same sexy, body structure, complexity, and height. Their personalities are almost alike. Both are strong-willed, would speak up what they thought is right and what's in their mind, always exerting themselves to get what she wanted. They also have good charisma. Though, on how they get what they want and use their charisma differ. Piper would be conniving and playful, Nora's convincing powers are logical and part of her nature.

Seeing Piper again, Nate could now compare their looks.

Both women have straight noses and a complete set of pearly white teeth. They also have the same ear and eyebrow shapes.

Piper has a strong jaw and wide mouth that matches her snarky voice. Nora has a soft jaw and rose-bud mouth that matches her soft and gentle voice.

Piper has luscious locks of black hair that reaches her shoulders. Nora has luscious locks of brown hair that reaches her shoulders.

Their eyes, it's Piper's eyes that made Nate think how she and Nora are alike. While Piper has hazel eyes and Nora has brown eyes, they have the same shape and quality: their eyes are almond shaped with the outer edge tilting upward like a cat. When staring at them, they are sharp that feels like they'll look deep into your soul to learn about your secrets. Behind their eyes lie intelligence and cleverness which they'll use as their weapon and defense. Nate needed is to blink and the illusion that Piper looked like Nora dissipated.

Nate doesn't know why he allowed Piper to tag along (must be her charisma working or her bossy nature. And he didn't mind being nicknamed 'Blue' rather than 'Nate'.) but he agreed. She did kept her bargain that she'll watch his back, much to his appreciation. Most of the time when he does side missions like helping a settlement, kill feral ghouls, monsters, super mutants and raiders, he always have Piper with him. The more they spent traveling together and inquiring about her thoughts, the more he gets to know her and appreciates her.

Then out of the blue (nice pun) after hearing her thoughts, some little devil in him made him flirt. To his great discovery and amusement, Piper blushed and stammered. The nosy and snarky Piper is easily flustered. Judging by what she told him about herself, he realized she dedicated most of her life in spreading the truth and taking care of her little sister, Nat. And she looks adorable when flustered. When given the opportunity or coming up with a plan, he would flirt just to see her turn red. The more they spent time together, the more he wanted to tease her.

Teasing her became a habit but he has to do it in appropriate times. He made the mistake of getting her flustered during an investigation in a reported raider's hideout. An incident that happened two months ago. An incident that'll always haunt him.

There was no one around the said building. Thinking it was deserted, Nate started teasing Piper. Red-faced Piper then walks away from his presence while he laughed as he was checking some drawers for some loot. Then a faint volley of gunshots were heard. Nate realized too late that Piper's been gone too long and the raiders have come. He hurried to where he last seen Piper, killing raiders as he continues to search for her. What felt like a year, he finally reached the area where the battle's taking and unfolding in front of him is a sense of dejavu: Piper taking cover in a corner but severely wounded. Weak from her wounds, she sat down with her back against the wall. From the stairs going towards her are two raiders equipped with powerful guns. When Piper saw Nate, she calls out for him.

"Blue..."

The way she calls out pitifully like she was dying made Nate picture Nora's death all over again. Helpless Nora shot down without mercy and he was there to witness it, unable to prevent it. Now it'll happen to Piper.

Never, will he let that happen again!

Blinded with righteous anger, Nate pulled out his sniper rifle and quickly shot the two raiders on the leg, crippling them, then the head. He ran towards Piper, never bothered by the bullets flying towards him. Reaching her side, he quickly used a stimpak, commanded her to stay put then left to finish off the remaining raiders.

When the battle's over with Nate wounded but victorious. He was about to turn back to where he left Piper but was startled to see her coming to him. He was relieved she was alright after getting healed by the stimpak but wanted to make sure, so he was about to ask her. But Piper beat him to it.

"Blue, are you alright?" she asked. Ah, Piper. Always concerned for his welfare.

"I should be the one asking that."

"I'm okay. Thanks for coming for me. Got no wounds anymore but you do. Gosh, Blue! Use a stimpak before you bleed to death."

Nate learned his lesson. He doesn't want anything bad happen to Piper ever again. His conscience made him decide to put her aside for now, to make up with his mistake. What he did was follow up with the son of a bitch who took Nora and Shaun. With Nick's insistence to come, Nate used him as the reason for the companionship swap. He was relieved that Piper never objected. From there, with Nick tagging along, Nate resumed his main quest. But after killing Kellogg and extracted information regarding Shaun, Nate was sidetracked again in helping others. Along the way, he found new companions too.

But after two months, he felt he needed to see Piper. He then decided to visit her and offer to accompany him. And see if she gets flustered by his teasing again...

 **...**

And here they are, traveling together again, with Nate limiting his teasing of Piper. Nate smiles down at Piper's sleeping form before shutting his eyes and think what they'll do next. Their next destination is the Brotherhood of Steel's flying base. He knew that no matter how much Piper disliked the Brotherhood of Steel (so did he, with their self-righteousness and misguided beliefs, but their military background is the closest thing to what he was used to before the bombs fell.), she was giddy to ride the vertibird and Prydwyn, and get some information for her story.

It's really nice to have her as a companion again.


End file.
